2011 HOT ROD Drag Week

"We stopped counting at a quarter million. We could have bought a nice house with what's in this car." --Denny Terzich Sr.

Waste 20 minutes on the Internet and you can read a lifetime worth of smack talk. Spend five days at Hot Rod Drag Week and you'll see fiction obliterated by cold, hard, rod-throwing, axle-breaking facts. While the keyboard jerkies are in their tighty whities racing the Barcaloungers, the Drag Week heroes are in action, running all-out five times in five days at four different strips, driving their cars from track to track. There's no better BS filter on Earth.

"I don't even know if you could ever be prepared for this thing." --Hayden Robertson

In 2011, more guys took the challenge than ever. A record 177 showed up, yet only 135 returned from the 1,260-mile jaunt from Kansas City, Missouri to Great Bend, Kansas; Amarillo, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and back to KC. This is mostly a game of survival--and for many, finishing is the prime directive. Sometimes the Internet jabber gets it right, and a guy called Two Tons of Fun on YellowBullet.com wrapped it up as well as we ever could: "I will be going on Drag Week next year. I don't care if my $&!% scatters in the middle of bumble-@*#&, Nebraska. I'm going for the racing and the experience. I don't care about winning, being in a magazine, setting some sort of record, or looking like Elvis. That's not what it's about. Every single one of us can sit here and say it's going to take these parts, and this amount of power, and I can make it, and beat so-and-so. That's great, you can make claims on the Internet. I'm going to go. That guy pretty well has to show up or he'll be a chump in front of our million readers. But when he does, he'll find the other glaring truth of Drag Week: It's fun.

"Well the oil pan didn't come with that hole in it." --Mike Chenoweth

Not only is it a killer road trip and a chance to flog your car at will at a diverse selection of race tracks you'd otherwise never see, but you'll gain friends that last a lifetime. No one at Drag Week is racing for money, so it's not so cutthroat that one racer won't help another to the bloody end. There's no race face, no throwing wrenches, no screaming at officials. Well, there's a bit of screaming at officials, but everyone gets over it pretty quickly. It's hard to harsh the vibe of Drag Week.

Read this story of adventure and adversity, then see more of the little-guy cars from Drag Week next month. You'll realize you need to sign up for 2012. We have opportunities for virtually any car, and even the slowest guys come home with memories, new friends, wild stories, and the satisfaction of having done something instead of just talked about it. The rules are on Hot Rod.com right now, so you have plenty of time before the September 2012 event to become a player. Watch hotrod.com and Facebook.com/HotRodMag for updates on the exact dates and locations.

"I've just about rebuilt the whole car at the side of the road." --Dan Nissen

During the road trips, participants are required to follow our map and stop at checkpoints, which are often fun-filled locations where cars gather to heal themselves. This scene was in Nowhere, Kansas, where Frank Romano's '55 was just one of the wounded, with fuel-system issues. The guys from Aeromotive drove their own '56 all the way, hanging out and helping out.

Our stop at the SRCA Drag Strip in Great Bend, Kansas, was very cool, as the WWII B-29 bomber base was the site of the very first NHRA Nationals, held in 1955. The community stepped up big time to support Drag Week, and we had our biggest-ever turnout of spectators. We also designed a special T-shirt (left) for the occasion, Photoshopping Larry Larson's Nova into a scene with the 1955 flag man.

The 200 MPH Club
In 2009, Larry Larson ran 204 mph in the quarter-mile after driving his car 1,000 miles--a stunning feat by any standard, and one we chose to honor by creating the Drag Week 200 MPH Club. In 2010, Jeff Lutz stepped up to that challenge, entering the event with the prime goal of joining Larry in that club. He did, running 206 mph during, the last day of competition. This year we presented Jeff with his honorary jacket. He's seen with his son Jeffry, and says, "I could never do any of this without him. Expect to see both back next year.

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Spirit of Drag Week
Every year, Hot Rod honors the participant who most embraces the spirit of the event: being a sportsman, helping others, and overcoming adversity to stick in it. This year, one guy did all that. When we would not let him run the class he wanted due to an equipment situation, he was a gentleman about it. When another racer broke a transmission at the side of the road, this man tore it apart and fixed it, getting that done before dealing with his own trans troubles. He helped the same guy with a burned ignition box--twice. And when his own car was not performing up to expectation, he kept on it hard, fighting to run the number and stay in the competition. That guy is Rick Prospero, winner of last year's top spot in Big Block Power Adder in his Nova wagon, and this year's Spirit of Drag Week recipient.

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"Drag Week changed my life." -- Mike Roy

"Car crash, whatever. I still had the best time I've had in years." --Richard Napravnik

"It's not about winning. If that's why you go it will crush you and teach you a lesson at the same time. Just beating Drag Week is the big deal." --Racer Jeff McConnell

Winners!
With the last-day rainout, all the winners were determined by a four-day average elapsed time instead of five. See the entire daily results at hotrod.com/2011/DragWeek/.

Class

Winner

E.T.

Unlimited

Larry Larson, '66 Nova

7.57

Pro Street Power Adder

Mike Roy, '71 Monte Carlo

8.29

Pro Street Naturally Aspirated

Doc Entire, '68 Monte Carlo

9.44

Modified Power Adder

Todd Maschmeier, '68 Camaro

8.21

Modified Natural Aspirated

Gary Satterlee '90 Mustang

10.26

Big-Block Power Adder

Scott Smith, '80 Malibu

8.42

Big Block Naturally Aspirated

Collin Williams, '99 Camaro

9.64

Small-Block Power Adder

Tim Reed, '79 Pinto

8.23

Small-Block Nautrally Aspirated

Alan Crump, '89 Mustang

10.42

Daily Driver

Brent "Buck" McCoy, '59 Catalina

10.90

31/33Finally, Drag Week™ worked its way from Tulsa back to Topeka and an anticlimactic rainout, this year’s winners were determined by a four-run average. We proceeded to the awards ceremony, where sponsors Gear Vendors and Rockett Brand were very generous with prizes. This year, Rick Johnson at Gear Vendors wanted to spread the love to all participants, so many gift certificates were raffled. He also supplied the now-traditional Fender guitar awards for the top three quickest overall seen here: Tim Reed, Todd Maschmeier, and Larry Larson.

Just Plain Larry
You know you've hit it when guys in the industry mention you by your first name, and everyone knows who they're talking about. That's Larry. Larson, in case you hadn't guessed. And, yes, he owned Drag Week for the fourth year in a row. There's just no debating it: Larry is the baddest man in the land. His '66 Nova--with 2,400 hp from a twin-turbo, 565ci, 23-degree, Dart-headed big-block from Mike Moran--is unquestionably the Fastest Street Car in America, if not the world. We will hear no whining on this topic. We've witnessed this thing year after year, doing it all on the road with no drama and no trailer full of parts. This year, we were cruising 70 on the highway when Larry blasted by at 85. In a small town, he passed us with a drink in his hand. Back home in Oak Grove, Missouri, he drives the thing to work. The whole program is as legit as it gets.

32/33 Street

Larry himself is also the genuine article, as nice a racer as you'll ever meet, especially one as knowledgeable as he is on chassis tech as the proprietor of Larson Race Cars. Hit LarsonRaceCars.com and you won't even find him promoting these wins. He's not that guy. Then again, he is the guy with the target on his back. Conditions didn't allow it this year, but he ran 6.95 on the last day of Drag Week in 2010. There are at least a dozen guys claiming they're coming to knock down a 6-second pass every day. We're still waiting. See you in 2012.